We as people are born, go to school, get old and die. Why not green these life experiences? Each of them could be a force for creating the kind of world we want if we handled them right.

image courtesy of Pixabay

We all need a roof over heads, food on our plates and communities where we can take care of our health, educational and social needs. Why are they organized in a way that doesn’t directly benefit us and the places where we live? And how can we change this?

Lately my friends and I have been thinking about getting old and what kinds of supports we’ll need. There are a lot of us Baby Boomers, and the way the old have been cared for — including institutional food when many of us eat local and organically grown — isn’t going to cut it.

Since we’re going to need more places appropriate for seniors to live, why not build units to passive house standards while we’re at it? Why not have gardens where we grow much of our own food? Why not have places where young families can live amongst older folks so all can enjoy intergenerational relationships?

image courtesy of Pixabay

We could deconstruct old, non-heritage buildings that have reached the end of their life-cycles and reuse the solid wood and attractive features (think clawfoot bathtubs, antique light fixtures) in the new passive co-housing units we’d design. Our living spaces could be much smaller if we had community kitchens and living rooms. The layout could actively encourage interaction.

In other words, why not design the kind of future we all want to be a part of? Most of us will, hopefully, get old one day. Don’t we want something like this for all of us, so we have a pleasant old age to look forward to?

And why not apply this kind of redesign to all our institutions? What kinds of green makeovers could we give to hospitals, schools, clinics and all of our public institutions? Lets green and local up. Doing this will be good for the environment and create enjoyable living situations for everyone.

Maybe we can finally live those 60s values that we seem to have left behind. Here’s a bit of musical inspiration from those times to fuel your inspiration. Come on, lets do this!